We at Harmony Farms are a rotationally grazed seasonal dairy in Michigan. Our herd consisit of five different groups of purebred cows along with a few crossbreds. We milk in a swing-over 8 New Zelaland style parlor, our cows are outside all year long. Aside from the parlor the only equipment we own is a 35 HP Massey Ferguson tractor with a bale spear and a snow blade… that’s it. We pasture 150 acres, most of it rented, and buy all our winter forage. We are working toward year round grazing but we’re not there yet.
We ‘evolved to this , having graduated with honors from the ‘School of Hard Knocks’. Our past is littered with barbed wire, lost and broken tools, missed opportunities, dead bodies, wrong turns, and burned up cash. Thanks God we paid as we went and don’t have any students loans left over. The purpose for this website is not to brag about ourselves but rather to be a clearing house of ideas and information, after all why should we all have to make the same mistakes? This is a website for all grass-based dairies, it is much yours as it’s mine, everybody shares it and nobody owns it. We all need to support one another, your comments and participation are wanted and welcome.
Within any herd there exists one or two excellent cows, several good cows, and the majority of average to poor cows. The criteria that we use to judge our cows varies depending on our production model, one man’s dream being another man’s nightmare! As grass-based dairy farmers we need to come to a consensus of what is important to us personally and as a new ‘industry’. How big should a cow really be? What can I expect her to produce with out any corn? Is milk in the bucket more important than a calf on the ground? Of course I have my opinions on these issues but I need to bounce them off other people in similar situations.
It does not matter what you get for your milk, what matters is what it cost you to produce it!
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